The Game Management Authority (Victoria) has released the 2022 wild deer harvest report.
There are now over 50,000 licenced recreational deer hunters in Victoria. Who contributed to the total recreational harvest of up to 155,042 deer for 2022. The 2022 wild deer harvest was the second largest on record since the surveys began in 2009. The total number of game licence holders to recreationally hunt deer (50,478) is the largest recorded number, reflective of the ongoing increase in popularity of recreational deer hunting.
The two most popular species of deer harvested were sambar and fallow, with up to 88,140 sambar and 50,278 fallow deer being harvested.
The top five towns where deer were harvested were Mansfield, Eildon, Omeo, Whitfield, and Bairnsdale. This is similar to the top five towns for the number of deer hunting days spent: Mansfield, Licola, Bairnsdale, Dargo, and Eildon.
Female bias in the harvest rate continues, with 53% of sambar and 62% of fallow deer harvested being female.
The value of public land access is reflected in the data, with more public land hunting occurring exclusively on public land than private. This was also reflected in the harvest data for sambar, where they were harvested on public land more than other land tenures.
Harvest data provides valuable information for wildlife management and the value placed on public land access by recreational deer hunters. Extracting this data is only made possible by the game status of deer and the requirement for a game licence to hunt on public land.
To read the report in full, please click here.
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